Late Returns Helping Republicans Gain Legislative Seats

In a turn around, late counted votes in some Washington State Legislative races are seeing Democrats losing some races they thought they won. The end result could be that Republicans may see a net gain of 3 to 4 seats in the Legislature.

As reported by Bryan Bissell on PoliticklerWA.com the Republican gain is coming in both House and Senate races:

In the Senate 2nd Legislative District which includes parts of Pierce and Thurston County, Republican Randi Becker is now leading incumbent Democratic Senator Marilyn Rasmussen.

Randi Becker (Republican) …..29,908 (51.54%)
Marilyn Rasmussen (Democrat) …..28,098 (48.44%)

In the Senate 17th Legislative District which is Clark County Republican Senator Don Benton has turned a deficit on election day into a large lead over Democrat David Carrier.

Don Benton (Republican) …..29,169 (51.15%)
David Carrier (Democrat) …..27,796 (48.85%)

In the House 10th Legislative District which represents Island County and parts of Skagit and Snohomish Counties, Norma Smith currently has a 450 vote edge over Democrat Tim Knue who lead on election night.

Norma Smith (Republican) …..33,365 (50.34%)
Tim Knue (Democrat) …..32,915 (49.66%)

In the House 6th Legislative District in Spokane County, Democrat John Driscoll has seen his lead drop from about 1000 to 63 votes over incumbent Republican Representative John Ahern.. This race will obviously go into a recount.

John Driscoll (Democrat) …..34,805 (50.05%)
John Ahern (Republican) …..34,742 (49.95%)

In other turnovers already decided, Republican picked up seats in LD 6 and LD 26 .

In House Legislative District 6 in Spokane County, incumbent Democrat Don A Barlow was defeated by Republican Kevin Parker.

Kevin Parker (Republican) …..36,746 (52.86%)
Don A Barlow (Democrat) …..32,767 (47.14%)

In House Legislative District 26 in part of Kitsap and Pierce County, Republican Jan Angel defeated Democrat Kim Abel. The seat had been held by a Democrat, Pat Lantz, who retired.

Jan Angel (Republican) …..30,178 (53.41%)
Kim Abel (Democrat) …..26,322 (46.59%)

Democrats picked up 1 House seat in Legislative District 17 in Clark County. Democrat Jim Probst beat Republican Joseph James in a seat previously held by Republican Jim Dunn who lost in the Primary in August.

Tim Probst (Democrat) …..31,457 (55.86%)
Joseph James ((Republican) …..24,856 (44.14%)

You can keep track of the latest results in these races by going to the Secretary of State’s Election website.